FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATIONIV. EXEMPTION 3 STATUTESA. Exemption 3 Statutes Relied upon to Withhold InformationStatuteType ofCase CitationNumber ofTotal NumberInformationTimes Reliedof Times ReliedWithheldupon perupon by AgencyComponent26 U.S.C. 6103Tax information,
such as third-party addresses"and employer’s
names and
addresses"
Church of Scientology v. IRS, 484 U.S. 9, 15 (1987)(finding that IRS lawfully exercised discretion to withhold street addresses pursuant to 26 U.S.C. section 6103(m)(1));80¹80Aaron v. IRS, 973 F.2d 962, 964-65 (1st Cir. 1992) (finding that IRS lawfully exercised discretion to withhold street addresses pursuant to 26 U.S.C. section 6103(m)(1)); and,Long v. IRS, 891 F. 2d 222, 224 (9th Cir. 1989) (holding that deletion of taxpayer’s identification does not alter confidentiality of section 6103 information).The United States Supreme Court and most appellate courts that have considered the withholding of tax return information have held either explicitly or implicitly that section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code satisfies subpart (B) of exemption 3.
41 U.S.C. 423Source selection information and independent government estimates for projests which have not yet been awarded
Legal & Safety Employer Research, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of theArmy, No. Civ. S001748, 2001 WL 34098652, at *3-4 (E.D. Cal. May 4, 2001) (dictum), (finding that the court is satisfied that 41 U.S.C. 423 is a nondisclosure statute under exemption 3, subsection B).11[1] This total includes the total number of times we applied Exemption 3 for initial requests and appeals.

SheetEnd7960060060153134FalseFalse

V. FOIA REQUESTSA. Received, Processed and Pending FOIA RequestsColumn 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4Number of Requests Pending as of Start of Fiscal YearNumber of Requests Received in Fiscal YearNumber of Requests Processed in Fiscal YearNumber of Requests Pending as of End of Fiscal YearAGENCY OVERALL
1,06031340
31,551
849

6006003387FalseFalse

B. (1) Disposition of FOIA Requests – All Processed RequestsNumber
of
Full
GrantsNumber
of
Partial
Grants/
Partial
DenialsNumber of
Full Denials
Based on
ExemptionsNumber of Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than ExemptionsNo
RecordsAll Records Referred to Another Component or AgencyRequest
WithdrawnFee-
Related
ReasonRecords
not
Reasonably
DescribedImproper
FOIA Request for Other ReasonNot
Agency
RecordDuplicate
RequestOther
*Explain
in chart
belowTOTALAGENCY OVERALL263443085144723165112119518251031551

B. (2) Disposition of FOIA Requests – “Other” Reasons for “Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions” from Section V, B (1) ChartDescription of “Other”
Reasons for Denials from
Chart B (1) & Number of
times those Reasons were
Relied UponTOTALAgency TotalNot Applicable0

6006003112FalseFalse

VI. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS OF INITIAL DETERMINATIONS OF FOIA REQUESTSA. Received, Processed, and Pending Administrative AppealsColumn 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4Number of
Appeals Pending
as of Start of
Fiscal YearNumber of
Appeals Received
in Fiscal YearNumber of
Appeals
Processed in
Fiscal YearNumber of
Appeals Pending
as of End of
Fiscal Year11131059

-3600386FalseFalse

B. Disposition of Administrative Appeals – All Processed AppealsNumber Affirmed
on AppealNumber Partially
Affirmed &
Partially
Reversed/Remanded
on AppealNumber Completely
Reversed/Remanded
on AppealNumber of
Appeals Closed
for Other
ReasonsTOTAL271266²01052 The number of appeal decisions we reversed includes cases where we reversed the decision because the requester provided additional information required for us to disclose records. For example, requesters must provide proof of death whenrequesting records on deceased individuals. If the requester provides acceptable proof of death on an appeal, wereverse the decision and release the records.

VII. FOIA REQUESTS: RESPONSE TIME FOR PROCESSED AND PENDING REQUESTSA. Processed Requests – Response Time for All Processed Perfected RequestsSIMPLECOMPLEXEXPEDITED PROCESSING3Median
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysLowest
Number
of DaysHighest
Number
of DaysMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysLowest
Number
of DaysHighest
Number
of DaysMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysLowest
Number
of DaysHighest
Number
of DaysAGENCY OVERALL41117125661772387N/AN/AN/AN/A3 SSA grants expedited processing if it involves an imminent threat to a person’s life or physical safety; if a member of the media makes the request to obtain information that the public has an urgent need to know and the records would cover an actual or an alleged Federal Government activity; or if the individual explains in detail that he or she may be denied a legal right, benefit, or remedy without the requested information.4 Our actual response time for processed and pending requests is lower than the highest number of days that we report herebecause of a design issue with our case processing system. Although we complete processsing a case and send a response to the requester,the case remains open in our system until we actually receive the processing fees for that case. During the year, some cases remainedopen for quite some time even though we had full processed them. We have established a manual process to work around this issue until we areable to implement system changes to actually close a case when we send the response.

8860060060132710FalseFalse

B. Processed Requests – Response Time for Perfected Requests in Which Information Was GrantedSIMPLECOMPLEXEXPEDITED PROCESSINGMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysLowest
Number
of DaysHighest
Number
of DaysMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysLowest
Number
of DaysHighest
Number
of DaysMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysLowest
Number
of DaysHighest
Number
of DaysAGENCY OVERALL5259218960783387N/AN/AN/AN/A5 See footnote 4

D. Pending Requests – All Pending Perfected RequestsSIMPLECOMPLEXEXPEDITED
PROCESSINGNumber
PendingMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysNumber
PendingMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysNumber
PendingMedian
Number
of DaysAverage
Number
of DaysAGENCY OVERALL77984069515235N/AN/AN/A7 See footnote 4.

VIII. REQUESTS FOR EXPEDITED PROCESSING AND REQUESTS FOR FEE WAIVERA. Requests for Expedited Processing
Number
Granted
Number
DeniedMedian
Number of
Days to
AdjudicateAverage
Number of
Days to
AdjudicateNumber
Adjudicated
Within Ten
Calendar DaysAGENCY OVERALL0254525

600600341FalseFalse

B. Requests for Fee Waiver
Number
Granted
Number
DeniedMedian
Number of
Days to
AdjudicateAverage
Number of
Days to
AdjudicateAGENCY OVERALL40
62 827388 We review requests for fee waivers on a case-by-case basis. Only the SSA FOI Officer may waive or reduce a fee (in excess of $7.50). We usually grant a fee waiver when it has been determined that furnishing the information will primarily benefit the general public. We normally grant fee waivers from members of the media and educational and scientific institutions when there is limited search time or duplication involved with the request.

X. FEES COLLECTED FOR PROCESSING REQUESTSTotal Amount of Fees
CollectedPercentage of Total CostsAGENCY OVERALL$4,179,583.00 9749 Because of system enhancements and reporting changes we implemented in FY 2009, this total no longer includes feeswe collected from our first-party requests. Most of the fees we collect for earnings records and SSN verifications are based on a separate provision for fee charging in section 1106 (c ) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §1306(c ) ), rather than FOIA fee provisions.

6006003164FalseFalse

XII. BACKLOGS, CONSULTATIONS, AND COMPARISONS A. Backlogs of FOIA Requests and Administrative AppealsNumber of Backlogged
Requests as of End of
Fiscal YearNumber of Backlogged
Appeals as of End of
Fiscal YearAGENCY OVERALL909

8160060060354FalseFalse

B. Consultations on FOIA Requests – Received, Processed, and Pending ConsultationsColumn 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4Number of Consultations Received from Other Agencies that were Pending as of Start of the Fiscal YearNumber of Consultations
Received from
Other Agencies
during the Fiscal YearNumber of Consultation
Received from Other
Agencies that were
Processed during
the Fiscal YearNumber of Consultations
Received from Other
Agencies that were
Pending as of End of
the Fiscal yearAGENCY OVERALL0000

600600352FalseFalse

C. Consultations on FOIA Requests – Ten Oldest Consultations Received from Other Agencies and Pending at Your AgencyAGENCY
OVERALL10th Oldest
Consultation
and Number
of Days
Pending
9th
8th
7th
6th
5th
4th
3rd
2ndOldest
Consultation
and Number
of Days
PendingDate
Number of
DaysN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A

600600353FalseFalse

D. Comparison of Numbers of Requests from Previous and Current Annual Report – Requests Received, Processed, and BackloggedColumn 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4NUMBER OF REQUESTS RECEIVEDNUMBER OF REQUESTS PROCESSEDNumber Received
During Fiscal Year
from Last Year's
Annual ReportNumber Received
During Fiscal Year
from Current
Annual ReportNumber Processed
During Fiscal Year
from Last Year's
Annual ReportNumber Processed
During Fiscal Year
from Current
Annual ReportAGENCY OVERALL34444313403466631551Number of Backlogged Requests
as of End of the Fiscal Year from
Previous Annual ReportNumber of Backlogged Requests
as of End of the Fiscal Year from
Current Annual ReportAGENCY OVERALL14790

60060033143FalseFalse

E. Comparison of Numbers of Administrative Appeals from Previous and Current Annual Report – Appeals Received, Processed, and BackloggedColumn 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4NUMBER OF APPEALS RECEIVEDNUMBER OF APPEALS PROCESSEDNumber Received
During Fiscal Year
from Last Year's
Annual ReportNumber Received
During Fiscal Year
from Current
Annual ReportNumber Processed
During Fiscal Year
from Last Year's
Annual ReportNumber Processed
During Fiscal Year
from Current
Annual ReportAGENCY OVERALL5211374105Column 1 Column 2Number of Backlogged Appeals
as of End of the Fiscal Year from
Previous Annual ReportNumber of Backlogged Appeals as
of End of the Fiscal Year from
Current Annual ReportAGENCY OVERALL19